4 out of 5

While the wanderings of The Order and ABC Warriors did, indeed, start to drag the rest of the prog down, Abnett’s and Elson’s Kingdom and Wagner’s and Ezquerra’s Stront Dog entries were very strong, with some reliable JD work – a humorous Sensitive Klegg story (can Sensitive Klegg stories not be humorous?) from Rob Williams with that uniquely D’Israeli art – more than keeping the mag afloat until the new batch of thrills in 1973 would start another round of kicking ass.

Kek-W’s The Order did finally start to connect to its previous entry, but in a very much too little too late fashion, that made it questionable why the long delay in putting the pieces together.  If anything, the fact that the Nerve Center blurb was explaining more than was explicit in the story makes me assume that Kek-W wasn’t trying to make it a mystery, which means that either I’m dumb or that it was poorly written.  Thinking through Kek’s writing on some other thrills – including the Deadworld story starting in 1973 – I do think he has a tendency to leave large chunks of story between the pages.  Sometimes this works, like when it’s a general WTF mash of elements like the original Order tale, but maybe more often it just makes the story feel choppy and without consequence.  But at least it gives us some expectation for how future entries might go, which should make them easier to read.

ABC Warriors: no idea.  That the whole thing was told in flashback was fine, at first, since the robo-antics were amusing, but as we got closer to the finish line I started to understand what some of the letter writers were referring to as the questionable need for the story at all.  Even not knowing much about ABC Warrior history, the tale didn’t seem to do much, rather filling in a minor detail or lingering question, such as how the recent Bad Company entry answered the “And then what?” question, even when there wasn’t much need.

Kingdom took the more and more epic sci-fi tale in an exciting new direction.  Abnett, smartly avoiding just writing another Gene vs. Them tale, started throwing in some really excellent twists and quirks, and upped the stakes for what’s to come.  Can’t.  Goddam.  Wait.

And Stront?  Just the classic Wagner / Ezquerra 80s action movie feel.  It wasn’t exactly the deepest, or most action packed, or most unique story, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.  It’s mind blowing that Wagner can continue to churn out these tales that always feel fresh, and always provide roadblocks that make for worthwhile challenges to our leads, whether that’s Dredd or Johnny Alpha.

1973 sees Michael Carroll and Colin Macneil return on Dredd, referencing their Irish-themed tales but exploring some cursed Earth crimes instead.  Unclear where this one is building to, but the duo are absolutely proven on JD.

A 3Riller from Eddie Robson kicks off.  Robson has been a consistent choice for these three parters, more often than not coming up with well condensed blasts of sci-fi / horror.  This time out we seem to be dealing with some haunted real estate…  Fun, even if Jake Lynch’s art is a bit distractingly loose.

Survival Geeks meet their gender-swapped variants.  This strip is generally just pure nerdy fun.  The start of this entry does not disappoint.

Kek-W and Dave Kendall return to Deadworld to, apparently, show us how it became Deadworld.  I want these thrills to be amazing so badly, but the first entry felt fairly underwhelming, just riding on the coolness of Kendall’s art and the Dark Judges.  ‘The Fall of Deadworld’ seems like it will require some more dedicated plotting, though these first two parts have Kek-W’s choppy problem I mention above.  Still: ultimate potential.  Willing to give this one time top develop.

Aaand a double blast of Rennie power as he returns to Aquila’s tracking down Ammit the Devourer.  Paul Davidson’s more cartoonish art feels an odd match for the generally grueling adventures of Aquila, but he’s giving it his all with jam-packed panels and some great character designs.  As with the other just-starting thrills, it’s hard to get a sense for where this one will end up, but the writer and character are personal faves, so I’m bias in leaning toward joy that this will be in the next few progs.

Lots going on, but in summary: a couple floundering entries couldn’t sink the remaining massive dose of thrills.